The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 7, 1904, Page 12

s Copy- and Press itered at Stationers’ CORELLI, the most us woman author of the day, s practically un- known, so far as her person- ality is concerned. With exception of eme or two faked interviews and the circulation of a preposterous cartoon by an avowed enemy of hers, so little it known in America about Marie Cor- t e may as well have dweit » deposit vault in Lassa, the of the East. e has shunned the The camera has ation in her sight. Up wer. to this time a few tiny photographs taken bv friend with a kodak years ago were the only photographs of Miss in existence. With the excep- tion of a very e portrait, painted by the well known artist, Ellis Roberts, for himself, and in the artist's own pos- session, and a full-length painting by Miss Donald Smith, which hangs on the wall of the fine old Tudor oak staircase Stratford-on- accompany s Corelli's home at Avon, the pictures which s article are the only yhotographs which the authoress has ever sat. She has beep persuaded to have these taken rather than allow the libelous caricature which has re- cently been circulated in America (through her opponents of the “Shakes- peare Birthplace Trust”), to go uncon- tradicted She Is Not Persuadable. S0 many erroneous and damaging things have appeared recently with reference to the distinguished author- ess that the writer of this article has at last persuaded Miss Corelli to grant an interview which would afford the correct idea of one who, up time, has been known only books. Miss Corelli is not a very persuada- ble person, when it comes to inter- views She is a public a to this rapid and easy talker on every topic but one—herself. Extract- fng information from her on that point is like drawing out leviathan with an hook A few words about Miss Corelli's surroundings and personality. She lives in an old manor house—Mason Croft—at Stratford-on-Avon. It is a sixteenth century house and retains its Elizabethan gables at the back. Its antiquity may be imagined from the fact that a “manor fee” of eight shil- lings—or $2—imposed in the time of Charles II upon the house has still to be pajd to the present King. The King Admires Her. The interior of Mason Croft is fur- nished in exquisite taste, Miss Corelli bas surrounded herself with all that the artistic temperament could wish tique furniture dating back to Shakes- THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. peare’s time; rare value; paintings, pr i eng satisfy both the eye and the minc In Miss Corelli's drawing extremely cheerful apartment—is a large photograph of King Edward, pre- sented to Miss Corelli by the King him- books of roo self and bearing his Majest - graph. The King, by the way, is a great ad- mirer of her work and the trouble to sound her pr es ¢ all oc- césions. When “Barrat was pub- lished in 1893, the King—then Prince of Wales—went about asking h friends: “Have you read Miss Co- relli’s ‘Barrabas? " which, doubtless, did not do the book any harm. In the Corelli home taste, luxu wealth are combined very happily, ev- erything being in perfect keeping. As you see all this goodly gear gathered together you wonder that so much could have been accomplished by a “mere woman,” alone and unassisted, solely by intellectual output. Quite a Busy Woman. Miss Corelli's personality is difficult to describe. She is not tall, yet con- veys the idea of height. Somehow, you expect to find her sort of new-woman- ish. As a fact, ghe is a very womanly woman. Her love of flowers amounts to a passion, and her drawing-room opens into a winter garden where roses and lilies and even liiac and .aburnum bloom all the year around. She is a skilled musician, playing the piano and mandolin with equal ease, and she is quite renowned among her intimate friends for her voice and the way she and renders the national ballads and “folk songs” of various peoples. She is not, as has been often re- ported of her, irritated or seriously put out by the various attacks made upon her. “I have too much to do,” she says, “to mind them.” The repulsive caricature which was circulated broadcast by her enemies, after her action for libel at Birming- ham law courts, amused and surprised more than it distressed her. The offen- sive latter press which in more than one instance accompanied the cartoon in its career through some of the American papers she admitted to be rather trying. Miss Corelli displays good taste in dress, combined with simplicity and economy. In her own house she wears simple gowns, made after the models, in various pale colors, such as suit her fair complexion. She does not care for jewels and seldom wears any. Her hair is of the true light golden, so rarely seen and most difficult to photograph; she dresses it simply, its natural waves being drawn loosely back from the temples and fastened in a thick twist at the nape of the neck. Her eves are deep blue. for. There are beautiful pieces of an- Her Talk on Fame, When conversing she has an ani- mated, cheerful expression, but the countenance in repose is almost sad. You wou velous behind y wound- or had wearied 1li stated she had interviewed, still > entered on t < she answered question qu “It must be ve 1y nice to be go famous 11 us how it She , T suppose it has its there are a good ma as well. Do you know, sometimes here in Stratford there will be ever so many groups of people standing out in the street merely gaz- ing up at the house. They must find some vpleasure in or the wouldn’t do it: but it seems so funny! “Now and theh a venturesome ad- mirer will ring the bell and offer my butler half a crown (60 cents) t@ stand inside the hall for a minute! I wouldn't say he has always refused the bribe, but he often has. One cannot help be- ing amused at ch a form of hero—or shall 1 say heroine—worship. Though I am sure it is all meant kindly.” Drawbacks of Glory. “But,” she continued, rather sadly, “among the drawbacks is the grudge some people seem to bear me for hav- ing earned the right to live. Constant misrepresentation and downright cal- umny are so often my portion that I have ceased to care about it now. “But what T regret is that in Amer- ica especially they accept their infor- mation about me in the press from their London correspondents, not one of whom has ever seen me, except just now yourself. These gentlemen take all thelr impressions from hearsay, which they never attempt to verify.” “You bear no very good feeling toward the press, perhaps?” the old story, cropping up she said laughing. ‘Please don’t make such a mistake as to re- port that I dislike journalists. “I have ever so many good friends on the press, men of sterling worth and ability, and I have no grudge whatever against my enemies there. “When I first began my career as quite a young girl, I did feel it hard to contend with so much abuse and vitu- perative language—and a kind word would have helped me more than I can say. But I don’t care now. I have too big a public to care.” Letters From America. “You have many correspondents, I belleve? Strangers write to you from all parts of the world?” “Oh, yes—such kind and cheering let- ters, too, especially from America and India. Two or three of my books have been translated into Hindustani—'Bar- rabas’ for instance—and I get many letters from native persons who ap- pear to read them. ‘Temporal Power," my last novel, has been translated into Japanese—that seems very odd! But I hear 't Is quite a favorite book with o, e s J,‘-‘Stsfi war broke their own the Japs—or was, till the out. They are busy with ‘temporal power' just now! “Here is a letter I got the other day from a girl in Devonshire—quite a stranger.” Miss Corelli produced from her table drawer a letter written by a simpl¢ country girl living in the west of Eng- land. who thanked the authoress for having written her book ‘Ardath,” which, she stated, had helped her in her outlook on life. Miss Corelli re- ceives many such letters and invari- ably answers them with encouraging words. “Siy omething about your early Jife—first impressions—were you a girl- or a boyish, girl hor 3 h,”” she answered nimation. loved my dolls to ction, and used to create charac- s for them and build up all sorts of s around them. In fact they st my only companfons. I hild playmates. Knew Charles Dickens. “I spent all my time with the only father 1 knew—the song writer and poet, Cha Mackay, who adopted me in infanc With the exception of lessons in music from a daily govern- , he taught me everything. He used to make me learn poetry by heart, and when 1 about seven he would make me recite all sorts of famou pieces, even to the soliloquy in ‘Ham- let,) which I used to ‘declaim,’ he told me, very tragically, for the amuse- ment of him f and his friends. “He was intimate with Charles Dick- ens and Bulwer Lytton and used to tell me many stories about them. He al- ways encouraged me in the study of Shake:; are, and at twelve years old I knew every character in every pla, and could give any quotation its plac: “When did you begin to write any- thing for publication?" “Some little verses of mine were pub- lished when I was about fourteen. But 1 never thought of living by my pen. I was intended for a musical career, and it was only when I returned from a two years' training in a French con- vent that I learned it would be nec sary to do something to help my dear adopted father, who was seriously ill and unable to work as strenuously as he had done. Not Too Much Money. “I then tried my hand at the ‘Ro- mance of Two Worlds.” It arose out of a singular psychic experience, concern- ing which I shall have more to tell soon. “The cess?"” “Not financially so. But I was very young, and the forty pounds ($200) paid down for it seemed to me a fortune. The publisher (Mr. Bently) left the copyright in my hands, and, of course, it has been a source of income since. Even ‘Thelma,” my next venture, brought me very little when first pub- lished. But though I needed money at the time it was never my first thought. I loved writing, and I shall always love it.” Miss Corelll was asked what method she employed in producing her work. “Well, I make it a point to begin work regularly every morning about nine-thirty and I remain at it until two in the afternoon, producing on an average about two or three thousand words. I write everything out with the pen, as I do not care to dictate and cannot use the typewriter. I have my manuscripts typed afterward.” She Writes Clear Copy. Miss Corelli's “copy” is very clear and almost without correction. The original MSS. of “The Romance of Two Worlds” looks as if it were a clean copy made by some one employed in writing legal briefs. A specimen of Miss Corelli's penmanship was given by her in the little poem, a photo- graph of which accompanies this ar- ticle. The poem is. here reproduced in MSS. for the first time. “After two o'clock,” continued 'Miss Corelli, “I have luncheon and then usually go for a drive behind my two had no ct ever was ‘Romance’ was a great suc- G 1 e, " AUTHO"A_‘— FaR wE little Shetland ponies, whose names are resvectively ‘Puck’ and ‘Ariel I have all I can do to hold them, and a snin behind them is most exhilarat- ing. “How is it rou happened to come to ford-on-Avon to livi It arose out of a mere ‘sentimental’ association. My stepfather, Dr. Mac- kay, had alwi promised to take me to Shakespeare's town, but his death occurred before we did the promised pilgrimage. He died in 1890. I visited Stratford then, while mourning for his St loss—and wished even at that time to live there. 1 had only written four books then. But circumstances ren- dered this impossible. The Shakespearean Figh “After my serious illness in 1897, and my slow recovery during 1898, I again thought of the old town, and came back to it. I loved it very much—I love it still, though there are a sec- tion of persons connected with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust who have done their level best to make me hate it. But they have not succeeded. And they have injured themselves in trying to injure me.” “The old houses you have saved in Henley street are genuine of Shakes- peare’'s period?” “Certainly. The deeds exist that prove them so. They are at the birth- place, and the trustees are awara of them. Nothing but the most willful obstinacy and {ignorance could have planned such a wholesale transforma- tion of Henlev street as was intended. Even as it is, future generations will execrate the men who have altered the old street, just as we execrate the memory of Francis Gastrell, who cut down Shakespeare’s mulberry tree.” How Attack Was Waged. “The interest of Stratford is to pre- serve its Shakespearean assoclations religiously. At present it is destroying them as fast as it can and there will soon be nothing left for any reverent lovers of Shakespeare to see. Mr. Sid- ney Lee tells us that there is nothing left genuinely of Shakespeare's time in the birthplace itself but the cellar and that is not shown to visitors. So that enthusiastic Americans are only rever- ing a sham after all, according to Mr. Lee.” “Did Mr. Lee help you in your ef- forts to save the old cottages?’ “Mr. Lee helped very much to spread the libelous assertions of his friend Mr. Flower against me,” replied the novel- ist quietly—"and he had no excuse for doing so, as I wrote him a friendly and courteous letter, telling him that the story of my wish to purchase land in Henley street was not true, and asking him ‘as a scholar and gentleman,’ not to credit such rumors. He never answered the letter, but he continued to spread the calumny in a circular letter about Henley street the American pres Suffered for Shakespeare. “You have had a good deal to endure for Shakespeare!™ “Well, it has interested me deeply, and 1 do not grudge the money I have spent or the trouble I have taken in doing what I believed to be a national duty. Of course, I have been pained at the willful misrepresentation that has been made through the work of Mr. Flower and Mr. Sidney Lee to the press, but the whole town of Stratford to English ana knows now what the conspiracy was against me, and’ that knowledge Is rapidly spreading. The truth of it is sure to come out. “It has surprised and shocked me to know that a man of Mr. Flower’s re- spectable position has stooped {o use such despicable means as he confessed he had, to do me injury, because per- sonally speaking I have never had the slightest animus against Mr. Flower. Faith in the Psychic. “I presume you have a grudge against Mr. Flower, who worked all the mischief?" “Not the least in the world! He has injured himself far more than he has injured me. And I believe in compen- sation.” “In what way?" “There we touch on the psychic,” said Miss Corelli, smiling, “and if we begin on that subject it will lead us rather far. But what I mean just now is that I think a wrong ‘is always righted in due season, and that people who play a low-down game and play bad tricks behind the scenes get punished openly. I am a thorough psychologist in these things, believing that we are helped by influences beyond ourselves. “While we have broached the psychic, however, I would like to make it clearly understood that I am not a believer in modern spiritualism. As the Americans say, I take ‘no stock’ whatever in spirit rappings, and all that sort of thing. “I have not the slightest doubt, how- ever, that we are aided by things which are far above and beyond us. For instance, if a person make up his mind to accomplish a ceriain thing— provided, of course, it i{s salutary in itself—all he has to do is to place him- self in accord with the universe, so to speak, and everything in the world will tend toward the accomplishment of that object. Power of the Mind. “I myself have tested this time and again, and I know positively what a great thing it is. When the human mind concentrates upon accomplishing a certain object and places itself in tune with these unseen powers, de- voutly wishing and working for the chosen end, events will shape them- selves in accordance with that destre. CoORELLy as It they ordered, and ever: —time, place, space—will con m itself, just as if they had been expressly ranged. The main thing is to b accord with these influences. That e ac- complished, one's aspirations will work themselves out “I have tried to give on to this theory in the ‘Rom Two Worlds,” but that book was writ when I was extremely young—just out of the convent—and I realize its crud- ities. “In fact, I am nmot at all satisfled with any of my work up to this peint, and hope some day to give ession to my thoughts in wo I shall have reason to be nt v That is one of the objects of my One cont of my favorite books on this subject is Trine’s ‘In Tune With the Infinite. There is scarcely a day D do not read something m it The Soul's Immortality. “The subject of the soul's ity has long settled itself in my mind. £ cannot say I believe it—I ¥ Death to me is nothing. I do not even admit it. The fact that I am is su cient proof for me that I always and always shall be. Even here and now we can begin—we have begun— immortal life. Our duty here is to place ourselves, as Trine says, in tune with the Infinite. “I even go so far as to believe that people could keep themselves in perfect bodily health by following out the dic- tates of such influences as they feel bring them into accord with the uni- verse. “Death is a mere putting off of one garment to put on another. Whether the garment taken up after death be a better or worse ome than that here depends entirely upon how present life is spent. “These thoughts, so bri here, have been constant compa of mine for years; and, if the h strength and time be given me, 1 tainly intend to elaborate them some da “I might tell you that so far as my psychic theories are concerned, I put them into practical workings 4 of my life. All my business tions are shaped more or dictates, and, when I have carr undertaking up to a ¢ leave it to take care of find that it is taken up jus leave it and carried to successfu clusion. Something distin ‘You have done suffi t rest to us,’ and so I do Altogether, Miss Cor: fallen in pleasant place has had one or two g her life which have left is uniformly cheerful. She the thirties, is full of energy, and em- Joys enormous contemporary fame. ow it. worn the